Former Western Hotel and Casino on a cloudy July day. Photo: PaintThisDesert

﻿Street artists for the second Life is Beautiful will be officially announced in the next few weeks, reassured Charlotte Dutoit, the Rise Above curator leading festival’s street art program.Dutoit was in Las Vegas as recently as June 5 to scout walls and check on fading conditions of last year’s works. With wall space at a premium and new murals commissioned by Downtown Project, site selection could also mean reevaluating which murals will stay up.“It’s important for us to preserve as (many) murals as possible,” Dutoit said via e-mail, adding program be “new and fresh” and again be a mix of international and local artists.

“I am also working on some installations more participative and playful for the public, but street art related too,” she said.

During her June visit, Dutoit posted a shot from the top of the former Western Hotel and Casino, which closed after 41 years in 2011, then purchased by Downtown Project in 2013.

It’s not hard to see how the dormant venue will be a major art destination for the festival. Los Angeles-based artist Christina Angelina completed a large-scale mural on the wall facing the parking lot in spring, which made for a stunning a backdrop for a shuttle pick-up point for the Electric Daisy Carnival. On the other side, on the wall facing South 9th Street, “Viva Las Vegas” mural by D-Face is still up.

Las Vegas curator and collector Patrick Duffy will use the site for his second LIB art “happening,” an installation that could use up to 20 artists, reported The Las Vegas Sun.

Even the front of the dormant hotel had a visual upgrade. In March, city crews painted a design art directed by Ryan Brekke.